Grids & Guides

Grids & guides are a great tool when you need to add some structure or context to the background of your map. Kumu supports the following underlays:

This video below explains how to create Grids & Guides in the advanced editor. Want to know how to use them in the Basic Editor? Please jump to the sections listed above.

Add a grid

In the Basic Editor

  2. Click "More" and then select "Grids & Guides" to open the menu

  3. Check the "Show grid" checkbox to make the grid appear

You can use the settings below Grid to adjust color, offset and width of your grid.

In the Advanced Editor

You can use the layout-grid property of @settings in the Advanced Editor to add a grid:

@settings {
  layout-grid: on;
}

Once you have the grid turned on, you can customize the distance between gridlines using layout-grid-offset and customize the width of lines using layout-grid-width.

@settings {
  layout-grid: on;
  layout-grid-offset: 20;
  layout-grid-width: 1.5;
}

By default, gridlines will extend infinitely. But, you can use the layout-bounds-xmin, layout-bounds-xmax, layout-bounds-ymin, and layout-bounds-ymax properties to set a stopping point for the gridlines.

@settings {
  layout-grid: on;
  layout-bounds-xmin: 0;
  layout-bounds-ymin: 0;
  layout-bounds-ymax: 550;
  layout-bounds-xmax: 500;
}

Finally, you can use the layout-grid-color property to customize the color of gridlines (replace color with any CSS web color or hex color code):

@settings {
  layout-grid-color: color;
}

Add guides

In the Basic Editor

To add a guide to your map, follow the following steps:

  2. Click "More" and then select "Grids & Guides" to open the menu

  3. Adjust the guide settings and click "Add guide" to make the guide show up on your map

Guides can be horizontal, vertical, or even a circle. To remove an existing guide, click the "Remove" button.

In the Advanced Editor

You can use the Advanced Editor to add vertical, circular, or horizontal guidelines. Here's the basic syntax for vertical and horizontal lines:

@settings {
  layout-guides: x(coordinate), y(coordinate);
}

Replace coordinate with any number, indicating the x or y coordinate where you would like the guide to be drawn. x(coordinate) draws a vertical line, and y(coordinate) draws a horizontal line.

To draw circular guidelines, you can choose between two different syntaxes:

@settings {
  layout-guides: circle(radius), circle(x, y, radius);
}

If you're using the circle(radius) syntax, replace radius with any number to draw a circle with that radius. When you're using this syntax, the circle will always be centered at 0, 0.

If you'd like to center your circle somewhere else, for example, an x coordinate of 40 and a y coordinate of 20, you can use the circle(x, y, radius) syntax. Replace x with the center's x coordinate, y with the center's y coordinate, and radius with the circle's radius.

Note: to add more than one guide, just leave a space between the guide declarations. Here's an example that adds two vertical lines, one horizontal line, one circle with radius 100 centered at 0, 0, and one circle with radius 100 centered at 100, 50:

@settings {
  theme: dark;
  layout-guides: x(0) x(100) y(0) circle(100) circle(100, 50, 100);
}

For additional styling, use the layout-guide-width and layout-guide-color properties to customize the width and color of guides.

Add a radar

You can add a radar of concentric circles to your background to play with positining of your elements. If you want to pin elements in place, visit this guide here.

You can use the radar property of @settings in the Advanced Editor to add a radar:

@settings {
  radar: on;
}

The radar will come with a few default rings and axes, which you can easily override using the radar-rings and radar-axes properties. Each comma-separated value in those properties will create and label a new ring or axis:

@settings {
  radar: on;
  radar-rings: INTENT, DESIGN, FEEDBACKS, PARAMETERS;
  radar-axes: BEFORE PROBLEM, FIRST CONCERN, PROBLEM, CRISIS, ADAPT OR RESTORE;
}

You can customize your radars extensively, changing the color, font color, the distance between rings, etc. To see a full list of supported properties and learn how they customize the radar, head over to our @settings reference (type "radar" to filter the list).

Add a background image

For full instructions on adding a background image, see our full images guide.

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